About Me

Background

Originally from Casper, Wyoming, I graduated from Brigham Young University in 2023 with a B.S. in Economics. While at BYU, I served as the head computer vision developer at the Record Linking Lab, where I led a team of 5–9 developers building tools for genealogical research—primarily focused on automatic census transcription and handwriting recognition.

We collaborated with organizations like FamilySearch, World Archives, and the Wilford Woodruff Papers Foundation, using custom handwriting recognition models and segmentation classifiers to create a pipeline that converts grid-based records (such as census pages) into clean, structured CSV transcriptions. I’ve presented this work at several conferences, including the BYU Family History Technology Workshop and the President’s Leadership Council.

Research

Currently, I work at Carnegie Mellon University with Professors Matthew Denes (CMU), Spyridon Lagaras (University of Pittsburgh), and Margarita Tsoutsoura (Washington University in St. Louis), in collaboration with the Internal Revenue Service’s Research and Applied Statistics Office.

Our projects use large-scale administrative tax data to investigate key topics in finance and entrepreneurship, including:

• The impact of the timing of government support on firm outcomes
• How the gig economy influences entrepreneurial activity

Interests and Innovation

I’m deeply interested in the intersection of economics and emerging technologies—especially machine learning and quantum computing. I believe these tools hold untapped potential for transforming economic research. At CMU, I’ve enhanced my self-study by taking world-class courses such as the renowned 10-601 Machine Learning course and coursework in quantum machine learning.

One recent project, in collaboration with Harvard Business School PhD candidate Jonathan Palmer, involved using OCR and machine learning tools to study the economic effects of the Kodak collapse on entrepreneurship in Rochester, NY.

Technical Skills

I work comfortably across a variety of platforms and tools, including:

• Languages: Python, Stata, SQL, CSS, HTML
• Familiar With: R, MATLAB
• Environments: Linux, Amazon AWS, Google Cloud SDK
• Specialized Tools: PyStata API, Gurobi, Qiskit (IBM), D-Wave Ocean SDK

Personal

Beyond research, I enjoy combining creativity and discipline in other ways. At BYU, I was a vocal percussionist (beatboxer) in the university’s premier co-ed a cappella group, 1AChord, and a member of the Honors Program. I’m also an enthusiastic pickleball player.

From 2017 to 2019, I served as a volunteer missionary in East Los Angeles for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That experience sparked a love for the Spanish language and Latin American literature, as well as a lasting concern for the challenges faced by migrants and refugees in the U.S. I'm ACTFL-certified fluent in Spanish and currently volunteer 3–5 hours per week teaching English to Spanish speakers.